Immigration Forum / USA Marriage Base / December 2004

Our appointment was for 11:00 AM.  We arrived at 10:00 AM but hubby
insisted we were too early.  So we drove around and came back at 10:30.
BIG MISTAKE.  They don't do things by your scheduled appointment
time.....IT's by the numbers given out!  Oh My God......This was quite
the experience.  Thank Goodness we were prepared for all the kindness
and warm fuzzy feelings these INS Employees give out when you come into
the building.  NOT!  We walked in and a guy in a BULLET PROOF VEST
harshly says to us.....WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? { for the fun of it?}
{didn't say that though!!, but I wanted to!}
"We are here for my husband to have fingerprints."  Take all metal etc,
and go thru here.  He wisks us thru the metal dectector and hands us a
ripped piece of paper with a handwritten number on it.  The piece of
paper was about the size of my thumbnail and was from one of those post
it pads.  They were pre-torn into a bunch of little pieces and he writes
a number on it with an A or a B. {Didn't WE ALL RECENTLY PAY TONS OF
MONEY for AOS to the INS?  You think they could afford a number machine
like in the deli or at the very least a PROPERLY CUT piece of paper that
wasn't dirty.  We walk in and there were people HERDED and I mean HERED
into this tiny waiting room with two TV'S blaring.  With all the kids
crying, people talking and the TV's you could barely hear the employees
behind the windows calling the numbers.  The place was FILTHY!  I went
into the Restroom.....IT was FILTHY, Smelled terribly, No toilet paper
and the lock on the door didin't work and the door opened into the
waiting room.  So anyone that went in the restroom was always disturbed
by someone else trying to get in there.  Luckily Hubby had some Dunkin
Donuts napkins in his jacket pocket so I could use the restroom with him
standing guard.  So anyways as I said there were two windows only open
for all these people.  The men behind the windows were barely audible
when they called the numbers so you had better be right up there when
they call out your number.  We walked up to the window and he said what
number are you.  We told him.  He says "give me the number!"  Like we
just made it up!  At this point I am embarrased to be an American
Citizen.  I am aghast at how I am a part of a country that treats
immigrants like this.  It is a pre-requisite to be an a.shole to be an
INS employee?  Now what would be wrong with being nice?  Anyone think a
smile would kill you?
After Hubby gave him the paper with the number and the guy muttered
something to us that we couldn't understand, he repeated "get a
CLIPBOARD" loudly and rudely.  He said to fill out the questionaire and
hand it back to him.  Seems to me it would have been easier to have it
handed at the door so the Immigrant could fill it out while waiting the
more than one hour wait!  Hubby is shaking while he is filling this out
and I am only imagining what is next. I am feeling worse by the minute
and by now I have an excruciating migraine.  He then tells us to have a
seat, it's going to be another wait.  After about half an hour Hubby is
called in and has his fingerprints. While he is in the room that I was
not allowed to enter with him, I walked over to the guard with the
bullet proof vest.  I see this stun gun on the desk and I cracked a joke
about him using it a lot.  He actually smiled and started talking to me.
I asked him if they have a lot of probs since he has that vest on.  He
says he wears it for his wife.  Guess the guys not that bad after all.
We chatted for a few minutes and then Hubby came out.
This was such a demoralizing and degrading experience, that I, at
numerous times thoughout our wait thought to myself that we might be
making a huge mistake with our choice at choosing to live here in the
USA.  And I am the USC!  I can't imagine how the immigrants feel. There
was not one instant when anyone was anything other than DOWNRIGHT RUDE.
Absolutely NO RESPECT was shown towards ANY of these HUMAN BEINGS by any
of these employees.   I know the whole situation upset my husband very
much.  He hasn't touched a drop of alcohol in 6 months and this did him
in.  We went to lunch afterwards and he had a drink, we had a huge
fight, came home, had another fight, and here I sit!  Let's hope the
rest of this process is a bit easier to swallow.